Moe Lane

Mind you, you wouldn’t know that from the Washington Post’s article on the arrest of John Kiriakou.  While the Washington Post – from appearances, somewhat reluctantly – reported that Kiriakou (a former CIA officer and Senate Foreign Affairs staffer) had been arrested for revealing names, operations and investigations to the media back in 2008-2009, the paper completely neglected to mention who Kiriakou ended up working for – which is to say, Senator John Kerry (D, MA).  Oddly enough, the Washington Post managed to simultaneous note that “[t]he committee had not been aware of the criminal probe of Kiriakou, according to a former U.S. official familiar with the matter” in its article, while unaccountably mentioning that Kiriakou has been leaking classified information publicly for years – including to the, well, Washington Post.  One can only guess why a premiere Left-Establishment paper would be so eager to whitewash the record when it comes to protecting prominent Left-Establishment politicians… like, say, John Kerry, who is the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee (at least until next January)… (more…)

I don’t know why Ben Smith called this “SwiftVets Revenge,” though: as far as I can tell, they didn’t have anything to do with what happened here.  Which was back in August of last year, by the way – and no, I don’t know why this was suddenly news, then.

In a highly unusual move, the Navy secretary has stripped a Silver Star awarded to a retired captain and Vietnam swift boat veteran who is serving a federal prison sentence after admitting to possessing child pornography.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus revoked the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest valor award, which was awarded nearly 20 years ago to retired Capt. Wade Sanders of San Diego.

Sanders, for those who don’t remember, was the guy that introduced John Kerry at the ’04 Democratic convention (infamously known for the ridiculous ‘reporting for duty‘ beginning and the hysterical ‘balloons‘ ending); and while Sanders went round and round with the Swift Boats people I can’t imagine that anybody actually really cares at this point about that element of the 2004 elections.  Certainly it – and the Democratic candidate – has been overshadowed by subsequent events. (more…)

I agree and disagree with John Hinderaker about John Kerry, Millionaire (he owns a mansion and a yacht).  The basic background: Senator Kerry (D, MA) built and bought a yacht overseas and has parked it outside of Massachusetts so as to avoid paying Massachusetts taxes on it, which are fairly significant.  At least, he was: now that he’s been caught Kerry is making it-was-a-big-misunderstanding noises.  Of course.

On the general point that John makes, I agree that if you have a choice between a state that puts an onerous tax burden on the construction and maintenance on an item that you wish to own, and a state that does not, it is only rational to pick the state that does not.  In this case, Rhode Island decided that it wanted the business more than it wanted an ‘equitable’ tax burden; Massachusetts did not.  Both states got what they wanted.  RI got the business, and MA got the smug feeling of knowing that the rich would get soaked if they tried to do business in MA.  It’s hardly RI’s fault that MA is now realizing that smug doesn’t balance a spreadsheet. (more…)

Jules Crittenden, on John Kerry, and the way he’s been (and will keep being) upstaged by Scott Brown:

It’s like a weird and terrible destiny. Not quite a Kennedy, not much as a senator, not quite president, and now, when his party holds White House, House and Senate, and he’s racked up all the seniority, not quite relevant.

There is something malignant about the way that karma keeps catching up with the now-senior Senator for Massachusetts… or, maybe there’s not.

Crossposted to RedState.

(H/T: Hot Air) It’s bad when you have somebody from this administration wincing at a proposed foreign relations move:

Sen. John Kerry has suggested becoming the first high-level U.S. emissary to make a public visit to Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, a move White House officials say they won’t oppose.

“…say they won’t oppose.” How… bloodless… a response. And how quick the administration was to remind the world that as head of the Foreign Relations Committee* the movements of Senator Kerry is beyond the White House’s control. It was all his idea, in fact.  A complete surprise:

The Obama administration hasn’t decided whether to make Sen. Kerry its official representative if he goes, but as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Kerry can visit if the White House and Tehran both approve.

Many opponents of Tehran’s regime oppose such a visit, fearing it would lend legitimacy to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a time when his government is under continuing pressure from protests and opposition figures. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets again this week to voice their opposition to the government following the death of a reformist cleric.

That Kerry’s timing this olive branch to the Iranian ruling regime just when street protests bubbled over is merely a sign that the Senator is watched over by a spirit possessed of vast cunning and political strategic genius.

Who hates Senator Kerry.

Moe Lane

*Yes. I know. They made John Kerry head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES, PEOPLE.

Crossposted to RedState.

(Via Dan Collins of POWIP) Senator Jim DeMint (R, SC) is back from Honduras – despite the best efforts of the Democrats to stop him from going – and he’s unkind about what has been pretty obviously an attempt by the American government to admit that we made a mistake and picked the wrong side of the Honduras issue:

[American policy re: the Zelaya ouster] was set in a snap decision the day Mr. Zelaya was removed from office, without a full assessment of either the facts or reliable legal analysis of the constitutional provisions at issue. Three months later, it remains in force, despite mounting evidence of its moral and legal incoherence.

[snip]

In a day packed with meetings, we met only one person in Honduras who opposed Mr. Zelaya’s ouster, who wishes his return, and who mystifyingly rejects the legitimacy of the November elections: U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens.

When I asked Ambassador Llorens why the U.S. government insists on labeling what appears to the entire country to be the constitutional removal of Mr. Zelaya a “coup,” he urged me to read the legal opinion drafted by the State Department’s top lawyer, Harold Koh. As it happens, I have asked to see Mr. Koh’s report before and since my trip, but all requests to publicly disclose it have been denied.

(more…)

(Via Jen Rubin) Let’s review (I almost did this using an extended metaphor of a fencing match, but I didn’t want actual fencers wincing):

• Sen. John Kerry is the Democratic point man in Foreign Relations for this administration’s messed-up Honduras policy.  He is, in fact, the Foreign Relations chair… which tells you how seriously the Democrats take this committee (i.e., they don’t).
• Sen. Jim DeMint is the Republican determined to wreck Sen. Kerry’s day – both on this administration’s messed-up Honduras policy, and on general principles.
• This administration has a messed-up Honduras policy.
• DeMint therefore slaps a couple of Senatorial holds on some State Department appointments until the administration stops messing up on Honduras policy.
• Kerry responds by denying DeMint the plane that he’d need to go down to Honduras and see for himself how messed up our Honduras policy is.  This is one of those steps that prudent Senate chairs usually don’t take, because it makes it easier for it to happen again, and nobody controls Congress forever.
• DeMint talks to Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell.
• McConnell talks to the Pentagon.
• The Pentagon is, of course, filled with people who didn’t come back from Vietnam and promptly announce that we were worse than the Mongol Horde.  Which is to say, people not like Kerry.
• The Pentagon gives Kerry the Hawaiian good-luck symbol, and DeMint a plane.  DeMint may now go to Honduras and see how messed up our policy is down there.
• DeMint then links this mess to the State Department.
• The State Department promptly disavows themselves of this mess.
• So: Kerry establishes a precedent, doesn’t accomplish his goal of keeping our messed-up Honduras policy off the radar, and doesn’t even get the State Department backing him up.  For a Democrat, that takes skill.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what one motivated Senator can do to mess up another Senator’s day.

Moe Lane

PS: Bear this in mind when the reconciliation question comes up regarding the Democrats’ messed-up health care rationing bill.

Crossposted to RedState.

If you’re into science fiction at all, you’ve probably come across the concept of the Puppet Masters: creatures, usually alien (although sometimes demonic), that insidiously take over people and make them into organic robots with no free will or volition. Staple of the genre, in fact – but one thing that never really got addressed in the books or movies is what happened to long-term victims of the insidious mental parasites, once the control had been removed. Sure, the hero or heroine always snapped back, but they were usually only mind-controlled for several hours or weeks, tops. What would a puppet who had been ridden for thirty years look like, once that rider was removed?

Probably much like this:

The Bay State senator was telling a group of business and civic leaders in town at his invitation about the “bizarre’’ tale of how South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford had “disappeared for four days’’ and claimed to be hiking along the Appalachian Trail, but no one was really certain of his whereabouts.

“Too bad,’’ Kerry said, “if a governor had to go missing it couldn’t have been the governor of Alaska. You know, Sarah Palin.’’

[Via Hot Air: bolding mine]

…Yes. Yes, she is Governor of Alaska, Senator. Well done!

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

(Via NTCNews‘ sidebar) Good luck with getting that resolved, Senator:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service has filed a $819,848 tax lien against Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, but Kerry on Wednesday blamed an IRS clerical error for the claim and said his campaign owes no tax penalties.

The Massachusetts Democrat said the IRS mishandled payroll tax forms that he said were correctly filed by his campaign in 2005.

Apparently the junior Senator from Massachusetts is finding it impossible to make the IRS see reason on this issue. For the record, I believe him; there’s precisely the “But we jumped through those hoops already” puzzled/confused/warily exasperated tone coming from his staff that one associates with dealing with a government bureaucracy with the bit in its teeth. The truly interesting part? Usually a Senator has enough power to get an honest-to-God mistake rectified; which might say something about the validity of Kerry’s case, but probably says rather more of the Senator’s influence.

I would like to think of this as a teachable moment for Senator Kerry about various aspects of our tax code: only, well…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.